PAPERS: Terms of use and Privacy

These terms of use apply when the Papers v2 system is hosted by PHDCC.

Papers contains user-generated content, ie the publication (conference or journal) is set up by the organiser - and authors, reviewers and other users create submissions and reviews.

1. Use Papers to provide a submission system for your journal or conference.
2. Currently, users must be 18 years or older to register.
3. The organisers of a publication are called "owners" who have access to all information about the publication, including usernames and emails, but not passwords.
4. Publication owners must agree to keep user login information confidential.
5. System super-users (ie PHDCC) will be able to masquerade as you to see what you are seeing - only used to diagnose problems.
6. If you make submissions or do reviews then that information will be shared with the owners.
7. Owners can give various roles to users, which then enable them to view your submissions and, for some roles, do reviews and see other reviews.
8. Please see the privacy policy below
9. The Papers server is hosted in UK.
10. PHDCC reserves the right to refuse any publication, submission or review that is deemed unsuitable for any reason.
11. PHDCC can access all publication information at any time, but cannot guarantee that organiser-generated information is suitable.
12. PHDCC will remove any objectionable content promptly - please report any concerns.
13. Unless specifically listed as a PHDCC publication, PHDCC is not liable in any way for the actions of the publication owners, reviewers, etc.

Publication copyright and privacy

A publication is run by the organisers of the conference or journal. The Papers system lets organisers host one or more publications, eg "papers for our 2021 conference", "Journal of Applied Taxonomy" and "Applied Taxonomy Monthly Newsletter".

The Papers system lets authors submit abstracts and papers. These are then scored or reviewed by other users who have been given that role by the organisers. Submissions may be accepted or rejected following rules determined by the organisers. A paper may then be edited by the organisers. Note that the submissions are NOT visible to other authors or the public within Papers. However scores and reviews may be made available (anonymously) to the author. Any submissions may eventually be made distributed separately by the organisers (eg printed in a magazine or included in conference proceeedings) as per any licence agreement.

The procedure or work flow for each publication is configurable by the organiser. The work flow may involve various submission stages, eg abstract proposals first then papers then revised papers. Other publications may accept submissions at any time.

The submission process and any content permissions are determined by the organisers. Authors will typically need to agree to a licencing or data processing agreement when making any submissions. The agreement should include details of how user information and submissions are shared. If you have been given a reviewer role then you will also need to comply with the agreement. Please see the organiser's privacy policy for details of how they handle personal data.

PHDCC data handling

If PHDCC hosts Papers for the publication organisers:

• You should primarily direct questions or concerns to the organisers.
• If you still need help, please contact PHDCC eg to report any concerns about content.
• PHDCC reserves the right to remove objectionable users, submissions, reviews or publications if deemed inappropriate.
• PHDCC will not disclose any information about a publication, its users, submissions or reviews.